Experiencing Sex via the ‘Blue Tooth’: Phenomenological Reflections on the Nature, Use and Impact of Mubobobo in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The belief in the existence of witchcraft and magic still runs strong in the African context. Because of this, early anthropologists, missionaries and colonial administrators tended to describe African indigenous religion and culture through misleading terminologies such as ‘primitive’, ‘superstition’, ‘magic’, ‘witchcraft’ and ‘fetish’. The westerners misunderstood and misinterpreted African religion and sought to pursue the philosophy of the centre to displace everything African. Nevertheless, good and bad heritage exists in African religion and culture. The paper explored the nature, use and impact of mubobobo, a magical remote sexual intercourse, metaphorically called ‘blue tooth sex’, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. The study posited that there are some unscrupulous individuals who practice mubobobo on unsuspecting people that results in detrimental socio-psychological experiences. The research corroborated methods to gather data and established that mubobobo is seen in ambivalence with some regarding it as an outrageous magical spiritual experience whilst others including the legal fraternity consider it as unfounded and illusionary. In the final analysis, the study concluded that mubobobo is a mysterious and mystical practice that is true to the Shona believers in phenomenological terms in the Zimbabwean context.